and learn all the things they would have otherwise learned during that first year of life. we're going to keep an eye on them and we'll certainly bring that to you. back to you for now. >> i can't wait. keeping that family in our thoughts and prayers, certainly. and i love seeing the medical team! >> oh, yeah. >> i mean, they're so fabulous in so many ways. we know that when you're in the hospital, it's more about that, the physical aspect, mental, emotional. >> and that strong bond they built having them as patients. >> good people there. we have a lot more to tell you about this morning. >> certainly. the next hour of your "new day" starts right now. the russians were responsible for hacking the dnc. not much happens in russia without vladimir putin. our goal continues to be to send a clear message to russia -- we can do stuff to you. >> public shaming does not work with president vladimir putin. i'm thinking specifically of aleppo and of syria and all the carnage there, much of it at the hands of russian firepower.

they were supposed to be brought to safety. instead, they're running for their lives once again. a convoy meant to take these east aleppo residents out of the besieged areas under fire. [ shots ] >> we're going to build safe zones. we're not having them come over. we're going to build safe zones in syria. >> good morning, everybody. welcome to saturday morning at 7:00 a.m. i'm christi paul. we're grateful for your company. >> i'm victor blackwell. good morning to you. the election is over, but president-elect donald trump is getting his supporters together for one last big rally, a stadium rally, just before christmas. >> yeah, the final stop of trump's thank you tour heads to mobile, alabama, today, this after trump brought the tour through florida last night, and the sunshine state was a battleground state, remember, that trump visited the most during the campaign, and it paid off, as supporters delivered him

the state, setting up his election night victory. >> here's how mr. trump described a level of passion from his supporters in florida. >> you people were vicious, violent, screaming -- "where's the wall? we want the wall!" screaming "prison! prison! lock her up!" i mean, you were going crazy. i mean, you were nasty and mean and vicious, and you wanted to win, right? but now you're mellow and you're cool and you're not nearly as vicious or violent, right? because we won! >> well, today, president-elect trump returns to mobile, alabama, and the same stadium where he drew this crowd, 30,000 supporters back in august 2015. >> this morning, president obama and the first family have arrived in hawaii, where they're going to spend their final christmas vacation while in office. the president leaving washington with a promise of revenge

against russia over their alleged hacking and interference in this election, and this as a strong consensus within the intelligence community builds over russia's full intent of the hack. cnn's chief national security correspondent jim sciutto walks us through that. >> reporter: victor and christi, the cia director seeking to dismiss accusations from some gop lawmakers, even the protect himse -- president-elect himself, that the gop is politicizing the russian hacking, writing to the entire cia workforce that the intelligence community and law enforcement are in full agreement on the seriousness and intent of the cyber attacks, this as president obama calls out russia in public for the first time, blaming vladimir putin. >> i told russia to stop it. >> reporter: president obama for the first time publicly blaming russian president vladimir putin for hacking the 2016 u.s. election. >> the intelligence that i've seen gives me great confidence

in their assessment that the russians carried out this hack. the hack of the dnc and the hack of john podesta. not much happens in russia without vladimir putin. >> reporter: and the cia and fbi agree as to why. director john brennan telling the cia workforce in an internal message that "there is strong consensus among us on the scope, nature and intent of russian interference in our presidential election." u.s. intelligence in law enforcement assess that moscow had multiple possible motives -- undermine confidence in the vote, weaken hillary clinton, and help donald trump. today the president said he delivered a stern warning to putin at the g-20 summit in china in september. >> when i saw president putin in china, i felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didn't happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out and there were going

to be some serious consequences if he didn't. >> reporter: still tonight, u.s. officials say that russia's hacking of political organizations continues unabated. since the election, one attempted breach targeted the clinton campaign, though unsuccessfully. president-elect trump, however, continues to dismiss the u.s. assessment that russia is responsible. >> we had a meeting. >> reporter: despite the fact that he is being provided the intelligence behind that assessment in his classified briefings. and he sought to divert attention back to one of the revelations gleaned from the e-mails stolen by russia, tweeting, "are we talking about the same cyber attack where it was revealed that the head of the dnc illegally gave hillary the questions to the debate?" i'm told that the cia director's message comes as many cia staffers are angry, frustrated, to be accused of partisanship in their response to the russian hacking. and also, the gop chairman of the senate intelligence committee coming to the defense of intelligence staff as well,

saying that they leave their politics at the door. victor and christi? >> all right, jim, thanks so much. meanwhile, russia is demanding evidence implicating them in the cyber attacks, telling president obama to "prove it or shut up." their words. and with such a scathing vow to retaliate from mr. obama, moscow is bound to fire back. i want to bring in senior international correspondent clarissa ward live in moscow for us. good morning to you. and president putin himself has remained pretty silent here, although we have the response. i wonder, though, and there is a difference here, a bit of a distinction between the response we're seeing, we're hearing, and the overall reaction from russia. detail that for us. >> reporter: i think that's right. essentially, so far we have heard nothing from president putin today, nor have we heard any official reaction to president obama's press conference yesterday. the official party line, though,

throughout the last two months, since those allegations of hacking first reared their heads back in october, has been this is ludicrous nonsense, to use one of their turns of phrase, this is not true, we had nothing to do with it, there is no evidence. just yesterday we heard the kremlin spokesperson essentially saying, as you summarize, basically prove it or stop talking about it. he went on to say that the accusations were "indecent." but underlying this sort of stern reputation of the accusations, there is also a little bit of a sense here when you talk to people, when you watch state television, that russia is somehow enjoying this moment, that russia is somehow enjoying the idea that it is getting so much attention, first and foremost, but also enjoying the idea that it could possibly have such influence, that it could possibly pull off such an audacious move, such as swinging the u.s. election in favor of

president-elect donald trump. but officially, the line here is still very much the same. it's a stern condemnation of the accusations. it's a firm denial. and it's really, they're being cast, essentially, as an opportunity to besmirch russia, as an opportunity to really poison the well ahead of president-elect trump taking office, ahead of a possible warming of relations between russia and the u.s., and it's also being cast as a sort of attempt of the united states government to try to cover up and distract americans from all of the terrible things that they say are taking place in the u.s. >> clarissa, i wonder what you made of the president's reluctance. he stopped just short of saying explicitly that vladimir putin ordered the hacks. he says he didn't want to step on the report that's forthcoming, but what did you make of the president stopping just short of saying it just verbatim?

>> reporter: well, i think what you understand from the way the president was kind of cautious about stepping short of saying his name explicitly is that at the end of the day, this is not a science, it's an or the art form. so when intelligence officials are putting together all of the evidence and looking at the broader picture, it's not that they can literally see president vladimir putin's login as proof of his involvement. it's that they're xap latie ex based on their experience and knowledge of the way the kremlin system works, the intelligence systems work here in russia. and the point you heard president obama making was, you know, to the best of my knowledge, he says, i don't think much happens in russia without president putin signing off on it. now, that will not be enough to persuade anyone here in russia of the legitimacy of president obama's claims. if anything, it will support the argument here, which is that

there is no substantial, tangible, physical evidence to prove that, "a," russia was even involved in these hacks, but certainly not to prove that president putin himself was involved personally. >> and as we know, not just the view there in moscow. that's a view that some are defending here in the united states who are questioning whether it's, as we've heard, russia or china or some 400-pound man. clarissa ward there in moscow for us, thanks so much. let's talk to cnn senior politics reporter steven colinson and politics reporter eugene scott as well. eugene, i want to start with you here, because president obama and president-elect donald trump obviously had very different approaches when it comes to russia. but if obama, let's say, imposes some sanctions on the way out of office, what is the expectation that donald trump might do with that? >> well, there isn't much expectation that donald trump at this moment will continue

whatever approach president obama brings to this situation. donald trump has made it very clear that he doesn't have the confidence in the intelligence that president obama is drawing his conclusions from. and so, i think one of the reasons president obama is being as proactive and aggressive as he is right now is because he thinks this issue will not get the attention it deserves once he leaves office. >> steven, cnn law enforcement analyst tom foreman weighed in on the russian hack just a little while ago when i talked to him, specifically about the dnc. let's listen to what he said. >> the fbi in 2015 was trying to get a hold of the dnc's i.t. people. yes, they called the main switchboard on the first call and asked for, who should we talk to that's running your i.t. program. and when they finally got to the people that were running the program, they said you're being hacked by russia. their response was, no, we're not. we see, you know, the various

signatures that show that you're being hacked. no, we're not. >> tom fuentes there, of course. why would the dnc not have taken this seriously? does it illustrate a disconnect or distrust between the agencies? >> yes. we know that at the time that this hacking was taking place that hillary clinton, the democratic nominee, was under investigation by the fbi on the separate case of her private e-mail server, so that might explain why there was some reluctance among the democratic national committee technology people to invite the fbi in and let them have a look, perhaps, at the democratic party servers. the problem with this, of course, is that it does undermine to some extent the democratic claims that the fbi did not take this seriously enough or not enough was done to stop hacking of democratic party servers during the election. so, you know, this is a point which is going to get legislated over the next few days, but in the end, it doesn't really

matter. the damage was done. and the democrats believe that the election was unfairly thrown towards donald trump by this russian hacking scheme. >> they do, but eugene, when we talk about putin's end game in this, you know, what was his intent at the end of the day, i did ask tom fuentes about that as well, and he said he believes his end game is just to show the u.s. that he can do it, to show that the u.s. is weaker and that they can't stop him. that is not a narrative or an image that donald trump is going to want the world to see. so, what is the expectation in that regard in terms of how the relationship between trump and putin will evolve? >> well, trump has made it clear that he will consider dropping the economic sanctions that putin would love to see eliminated at this moment, although putin hasn't done anything that would lead countries to reverse their approach regarding sanctions. he's hoping that trump will continue to view him favorably, or at least not as threatening

as our current president views him, and perhaps to elevate russia to the world power, the international power that putin hopes the country can be. >> steven, do you see a power struggle between putin and trump? >> it's going to be very interesting. the expectation that donald trump has set is that he's going to get on with vladimir putin much better than president barack obama did and that, therefore, relations between russia and the united states are going to improve exponentially. now it's a question. we don't know exactly how well they will get on when they get together. if it looks to donald trump that vladimir putin has been trying to manipulate him, as he has previous u.s. leaders, it's possible that his relationship could sour very quickly. we should remember that both president george w. bush and president barack obama when he was re-elected in 2012 and putin had just returned to the kremlin as president, they tried to improve relations with vladimir putin, but it was the actions of the russians, namely in the last

administration, the annexation of crimea, that made it impossible politically for the united states to carry on improved relations with russia. so i think a lot of this goes down to the personality dynamic that emerges between mr. trump and mr. putin, but a lot of it also depends on exactly what policies russia decides to pursue, because in the last few years, at least, russia's foreign policy, that directed by vladimir putin, has been, you know, specifically designed to undermine the power and the influence of the united states, and this intervention in the election is part of that. >> mm-hmm. eugene scott, eugene colinson, appreciate your insight. thank you. terror in turkey this morning. a deadly car bomb exploded next to a bus that was carrying soldiers. we'll tell you what we've learned thus far. plus, china steals equipment from the u.s. navy, breaking international law. what the u.s. government is now demanding. the markets change... at t. rowe price... our disciplined approach remains. global markets may be uncertain...

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well, this is the latest in a wave of deadly bombings that have struck turkey this year. turkey's president released this statement -- "we know that those attacks that we are facing are not independent from the developments in iraq and syria." he added that "we will fight against terrorist organizations." well, new u.s./china tensions in the south china sea as china steals a u.s. navy drone. the pentagon is demanding it back now. >> just moments ago, a chinese spokesman tells cnn that china is "handling the incident properly through military channels." but here's the problem, china stole the drone inside international waters, which is illegal. >> and keep in mind, these are the same waters where there's that chain of disputed manmade islands. china reportedly installing heavy weaponry on those islands. cnn's matt rivers is live in beijing with more. matt, what are you hearing this hour from china? >> reporter: well, what we're hearing from china isn't much.

the government just putting out that one line that you read there. so really not much officially from the chinese government. but one expert told us that when we spoke a little bit earlier, that this is clearly an escalation in what is already a very tense situation in the south china sea, and it comes during a three-week period in which u.s./china relations are going through some very troubling times. the "usns bowditch," an unarmed u.s. military research ship was just off the coast sunday where the navy says it was conducting research using underwater drones called ocean gliders. they say it was legal under international law. it was set to bring them back on board when officials say a chinese naval ship trailing the "bowditch" launched a small boat which swooped in and stole one of the ocean gliders. the defense department says they immediately made contact to ask for it back, but the chinese ship sailed away. friday, pentagon officials asked again. spokesman captain jeff davis told reporters "it is ours and

we would like it back and we would like this not to happen again." china's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement saturday that "china and the united states are using military channels to appropriately handle this issue." the paper went on to say the source told them, "this issue will be smoothly resolved." the seizure comes at a time of heightened u.s./chinese military tensions in the south china sea. china has built and militarized artificial islands in disputed territory, an action the u.s. calls illegal. and protect trump has made beijing angry twice in the last two weeks, first taking a call from taiwan's president, and then questioning the legitimacy of the one china policy, a decades-old diplomatic staple of u.s./china relations. and so, in terms of the motivations behind stealing this underwater drone, there are a couple options that most experts will point you to. one could be in retribution for what the incoming trump administration has done over the last couple weeks, including taking that call from taiwan's president. it could be a test of the

incoming administration, seeing how far they can push the envelope by issuing this new provocation. but reality is, we don't really know. what we do know, what most experts will tell you is that this is an unprecedented, at least in recent times, escalation in this region in what is really a tough time right now for u.s./chinese relations. >> all right. matt rivers, appreciate the update. thank you so much. according to the syrian government, evacuations of war-torn eastern aleppo could resume soon. what we're learning this morning. plus, democrats are calling it a brazen power grab. the republican north carolina governor just signed a bill stripping powers from the office before the democrat who beat him in the race to take the job takes office. inside the outrage at the state capitol. that's next.

we want to share this really touching moment with you. it's from astronaut and former senator john glenn's public viewing. annie glenn, his widow, arrived in a wheelchair and slowly touched his casket there and bowed her head for a moment. glenn's body was there in state at the ohio state capitol building. hundreds of people gathered to pay their respects and to say good-bye. >> that is quite a moment, looking at it there. certainly thinking about her and her family. >> married for more than 50 years. >> which is so rare. >> yeah. >> that's something to see. all righty, let's talk about what's happening in north carolina. also outrage there after the outgoing republican governor signs a bill into law stripping away powers from the incoming democratic successor. dozens of protesters descended on the state capitol yesterday as gop lawmakers passed pieces of legislation, one of which removes state and county

election boards from democratic control. >> well, now republicans maintain they're enacting checks and balances, but democrats are calling it a power grab. our paula sandoval has the story. >> reporter: the latest legislative session closing with growing outrage and crowds in north carolina's capitol. >> it's very difficult to hear because of the disruptive noise outside the chamber. >> reporter: demonstrators are angry over a series of bills rolled out during a hastily called special legislative session this week where lawmakers in the republican-controlled legislature want to limit incoming democratic governor roy cooper's powers. >> what is happening now is unprecedented. what's happening now is going to affect the issues that make a difference to everyday working families. >> reporter: among the restrictions -- requiring the republican-controlled senate to approve all of governor-elect

cooper's cabinet appointees, also significantly decreasing the number of appointments allowed by the new administration from 1,500 to 300. additionally, cooper would be blocked from appointing some members of the state board of education and all members of the board of trustees for the university of north carolina system. cooper beat out conservative republican incumbent pat krctiomcquory by a narrow margin. >> this is a majority rule. we have elections. >> reporter: despite large republican majorities, leaders say they are going to continue to be relevant in the state, but democrats call it a power grab. it will be an even more turbulent transition for mccrory's successor. polo sandoval, cnn, atlanta. there is new hope for people trying to get out of aleppo. according to a news outlet run

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it is so good to have your company this morning. i'm christi paul. >> 31 minutes after the hour. i'm victor blackwell. donald trump's going to be in mobile, alabama, today. this is the last stop on his thank you tour. after that, he's off to palm beach, florida, to spend time at his place in mar lago.

>> while trump says thank you, president obama is giving a warning and nearly naming russian president vladimir putin as the man behind the russian hacking and interference in the election. >> in early september when i saw president putin in china, i felt that the most effective way to ensure that that didn't happen was to talk to him directly and tell him to cut it out and there were going to be some serious consequences if he didn't. and in fact, we did not see further tampering of the election process. >> well, russia has a message back for the u.s. it says prove it. in the meantime, president-elect donald trump talking about radical islamic terrorism during his thank you tour in orlando yesterday. he talked about how he plans to address the humanitarian disaster in syria. listen to this. >> we're going to build safe zones. we're not having them come over. we're going to build safe zones in syria. we're going to build safe zones.

and we're going to get the gulf states to pay for the safe zones. and we're going to try and help people. >> so, we're hearing that from the president-elect as there is new hope, we're hearing, for the people in aleppo to get out. according to a military news outlet that's run by hezbollah, the syrian government and the rebel group in eastern aleppo, they have reached a new agreement and that evacuations in the city will resume. >> this is an announcement that comes after the evacuation of thousands of refugees from that city had halted. now, cnn's senior international correspondent fred pleitgen following the story for us from beirut. fred, the images, the sounds that we're getting from aleppo is just so hard to take. we cannot imagine what these people are going through. what are you hearing about possible evacuations being put back into place? >> reporter: yeah, you're absolutely right, the situation on the ground does appear to be

devastating and getting worse by the hour. there are some images we've been seeing of people sleeping on floors, people who are really very cold, haven't eaten in days. of course, a lot of folks who are still wounded and sick and who need that immediate evacuation. now, the latest that we're hearing is that the deal appears to be back on and the evacuations could start within the next couple of hours. it seems as though there's a new agreement whereby the evacuations would resume once again, and in return, there are two villages in rebel-controlled territory with some pro government people in them, and those will be evacuated as well. it's a complex deal, but it is one that many people in east aleppo need because they need to get out of there as fast as possible. let's have a look at why this deal fell apart yesterday. they were supposed to be brought to safety. instead, they're running for their lives once again. a convoy meant to take these east aleppo residents out of the

besieged areas under fire. [ shots ] this eyewitness says he was part of the convoy stopped, he claims, by an iranian militia fighting on the side of syrian president bashar al assad. the syrian government has a very different account. it says rebel fighters in the convoy were carrying concealed weapons and that they are to blame for the violence that reportedly left a number of people dead. evacuations that had already succeeded in getting thousands out of eastern aleppo ground to an immediate halt as the blame game began. russia making a puzzling announcement, saying it believed the evacuation of east aleppo was complete and that only hardline rebel fighters remained in the enclave. turkey, which helped negotiate the agreement, shooting down those claims. the red cross and unicef for their part say tens of thousands of people, including more than

1,000 children, are still trapped inside the war-torn city. for those that made it out, the anguish was almost too much to bear. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: but for those still trapped inside the tiny rebel enclave in eastern aleppo, the situation's even worse. stuck in the bitter cold with no food and no medical supplies, left to pray that the violence won't begin again. and if you look at this on a political level, it's such a complex situation. you have the russians involved, you have the syrian government involved, the turks involved, of course, the u.s. trying to play its part as well, the iranians involved. and then on the ground you just have this gigantic array of militias fighting on both sides,

including shiite militias from iraq, from here in lebanon, from afghanistan. you have palestinian factions, and then a wide array of militias, islamist and n non-islamist, fighting on the rebel side. but at the same time, we have to keep in mind for the civilians trapped in eastern aleppo, it's very simple -- they need to get out and they need to get out as fast as possible, because with every minute and every hour that passes, they get weaker, they don't have the supplies they need, they don't have the medical supplies they need, so they need to get out of there and get real medical attention as fast as possible. >> those images just tear you up. we just heard donald trump talking about wanting to build safe zones. based on what you know, all of the things that you just talked about, all of the different entities and governments that are involved here, how plausible is it to build safe zones in syria? >> reporter: well, you know, essentially, there are already some safe zones for civilians in the north of syria. it's those areas that turkey has taken over in the past couple of

months. they obviously have some syrian militias that are also fighting on their side, mostly trying to take territory away from isis, also fighting with some kurdish factions there as well. and essentially, those areas are now under turkish control, so those could be considered safe zones. but the places that the people that we're seeing in east aleppo are going to certainly are not safe zones. you have places like idlig province, which is a place that's held by the opposition. quite a lot of islamic factions, including some links to al qaeda there as well. the people who are going there are going to be subjected to another war zone. there's bombings going on there, there's air forces, especially the russians and the syrians flying there as well. so, putting in place new safe zones will certainly be difficult, especially in those areas that russia is operating in, but there are already some places that are safe for civilians, but they're not very big, and they certainly don't have the infrastructure to take in the tens of thousands of people who are fleeing their homes right now. >> fred pleitgen, thank you so much for bringing us the latest

on what's happening there. the terror in brussels really hurting an american family. we've got exclusive firsthand accounts from brussels inside that attack and what life is now like for this family after this tragedy. >> i live every day because of her. i live every day for her. to remember her and to honor her. millions of you are online right now, searching one topic. that will generate over 600 million results. and if you've been diagnosed with cancer, searching for answers like where to treat, can feel even more overwhelming. so start your search with a specialist at cancer treatment centers of america. start with teams of cancer treatment experts under one roof. start where specialists use advanced genomic testing to guide precision cancer treatment... ...that may lead to targeted therapies

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all right, $25 million, that's how much the u.s. state department says it will now reward anyone with information leading to the location, arrest or conviction of isis leader abu bakr al baghdadi. >> it's a steep price jump for the terror leader. back in 2011, the reward was $10 million. government officials feel raising the reward is a proactive incentive, citing that taking out al baghdadi would better protect our homeland. an american family caught in the brussels terror attack, five of them critically injured. their beloved mother and wife killed. >> well, they are graciously

opening up exclusively to cnn about that very day that changed everything for them. cnn's chief pentagon correspondent barbara starr sat down with the martinez family. >> i'm pushing through it every day. it's difficult to go through the pain, but you have to look forward. >> reporter: for 18-year-old kiani martinez, her brothers and sisters, there is utter devastation beyond the pain of burns, shrapnel and broken bones. their mother, gayle, was killed. all four children and their father, air force colonel cado martinez, were among the americans critically wounded in the march isis suicide bomber attack on the brussels airport. lieutenant colonel martinez was just back from afghanistan. they'd been waiting to check in for a flight to go on vacation. >> local media are reporting an

exchange of gunfire, and they're reporting that this was a bomb blast. >> reporter: 35 people were killed, 300 wounded, when isis attackers detonated bombs hidden in suitcases at the airport departure area. in their first interview ever, the family wants the world to know what isis took from them when gayle died that day. >> tell me about your mom. what do you want people to know about her? >> i live every day because of her. i live every day for her, to remember her and to honor her. >> reporter: kiani says her mother was everything to the family. this young teenager is unflinching. >> i think it's important for me to talk about this. at 18, where you're supposed to be going to college, becoming independe

independent, having been prepared for everything by your parents and then trying to learn for yourself what the real world is like. the real world slapped me in the face on march 22nd. and i'm not going to forget that. >> reporter: kianni was supposed to be in college by now. >> when i heard news that i was awarded an air force rotc scholarship, the first person i told was mama. and she was so proud. >> it's tough. >> reporter: lieutenant colonel martinez now raising four children on his own, grieving his wife and recovering from his own injuries. photos of happier times with gayle in europe while lieutenant colonel martinez held a nato job. >> i later learned that i took most of the shrapnel, if not all of the shrapnel, because my son

took the secondary wave and he got the burn, the flame. i didn't lose consciousness. i was blasted forward and i knew i was bleeding because i felt blood coming from my ear. >> reporter: martinez instantly feared the worst. >> my first instinct was to look for my children and for my wife. i couldn't find my son or my two younge youngest. >> after the break we're going to hear from the youngest members of the martinez family and how they're coping with this tragedy. stay with us. stay connected. the microsoft cloud offers infinite scalability. the microsoft cloud helps our customers get up and running, anywhere in the planet. wherever there's a phone, you've got a bank, and we could never do that before. the cloud gave us a single platform to reach across our entire organization. it helps us communicate better. we use the microsoft cloud's advanced analytics tools to track down cybercriminals. this cloud helps

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we'll play something besides video games. every day is a gift especially for people with heart failure. but today there's entresto®- a breakthrough medicine that can help make more tomorrows possible. tomorrow, i want to see teddy bait his first hook. in the largest heart failure study ever, entresto® was proven to help more people stay alive and

out of the hospital than a leading heart failure medicine. women who are pregnant must not take entresto®. it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto® with an ace inhibitor or or aliskiren. if you've had angioedema while taking an ace or arb medicine, don't take entresto®. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high potassium in your blood. tomorrow, i'm gonna step out with my favorite girl. ask your heart doctor about entresto®. and help make the gift of tomorrow possible. before the break, we introduced an american family caught in that brussels terror attack. >> five of them were critically injured, but their mother was killed. so now nine months later here we are. and they're opening up exclusively to cnn and quite graciously, we should point out,

about where they are today and how that has shaped them. let's listen. >> my first instinct was to look for my children and then my wife. i couldn't find my son or my two youngest. i heard screaming and i found kiani. the fact that she was screaming i knew that she was alive, she was coherent and i went to look for her mom and i said i would be right back. i knew i was bleeding out and my body was going into shock. so i closed my eyes and welcomed it. and figured i would join my wife and my three kids. but as i was slipping away, i heard this little girl call out to me -- daddy, don't you go. don't you leave me. and just when i thought, you

know, i was enveloped by a darkness and ready to go to sleep, i heard her voice and decided to come back. >> reporter: then the unimaginable, gayle, the love of his wife was gone. >> the story i got from one of the first responders regarding my baby, the youngest one, was that they found her in gayle's arms. when they got to her, they told her, we got the baby now. she's going to be okay. and that's when they she looked up to them and smiled and closed her eyes for the last time. >> reporter: lieu ten innocent martinez would not learn his family survived when he woke up in a belgium hospital. military buddies came to the hospital to make sure the children were never alone. >> they did shifts around the

clock making sure that my children were taken care of and that there was always a friendly face there. >> reporter: now, home is texas. the family is very slowly getting through its days. the two youngest 7-year-old kilani and her 9-year-old sister nolani recovering from their injuries. now tiny master chefs in the kitchen. >> and then we're waiting for the rice so we can put it on top, smoosh it down to straighten it and then wrap the seaweed around it. >> reporter: at physical therapy, 13-year-old kimo loosens his burn scar tissue that covers his lower body so he can play sports again. this american military family grief stricken but honoring their mother killed by terrorists by recovering and regaining the lives they know she wanted for them. [ laughter ]. >> i see her in the faces of my

children. i see her in this house. i see her in the people that come to help us. i see her in all the things that are done for us to support us, to help us. all the good things that have happened. >> reporter: it's more than just physical therapy to climb this wall, for the martinez family, total determination to get to the mountain top and ring that bell. >> that's what i'm talking about. >> reporter: barbara starr, cnn, san antonio.

parts of the country have been plagued by drought for months, adversely impacting farming now. as a result, this holiday season is feeling the blow. christmas trees we know soon will be in very short supply. >> family farms are really hit this season, hit the hardest, in fact. some are being forced to shut their doors this year as well. cnn's allison chinchar has that.

i know the bad weather is dry for them, for the environment. obviously businesses are taking a hit. what are you learning about how expansive this is and how long it will last? >> well, that's going to be the key is the length of time. it's not only a problem for this year, but it's likely going to be a problem for the years to come. keep in mind even next year or the year after if you go out to get a tree you may be dealing with some problems. again a lot of the christmas tree problems that we're dealing with have been because of the drought, especially in the southeastern region and new england, portions of the northeast where they were really hit hard by an exceptional drought and extreme drought. we're not just talking for a month or two this was a very prolonged drought that a lot of these regions were able to see. now, the other thing you have to understand is the christmas tree growth. we know of two states with closed farms, that's alabama and massachusetts, both of those states were in the incredibly hard hit regions of the drought. now, with the drought, you get dead seedlings.

it also stunts growth and the trees themselves have more of a yellowing type of appearance. now, typically in a season you'll grow about four to eight inches. this is what we talked about in the fact that it's going to be a prolonged event because that's four to eight inches that it didn't grow this year. even if the tree wasn't necessarily going to be ready for this year but next year it would have or the year after, it won't be the case because it didn't get to that typical season growth because in many cases they got absolutely zero growth for the season. and so that is also a big concern as we talked about going forward for a lot of these regions. so, again, keep in mind f you have plans to go out and pick your tree, it's not that there's going to be zero, victor and christi, the one thing you have to note, there are other states, washington state, wisconsin, michigan, those states also have some christmas trees just like this as well, so it's not that there's going to be zero, but it may end up costing you a little bit more in the coming years or

you may end up having to deal with a slightly shorter tree than you normally would have been able to get. >> all right. never fail. thank you so much, allison. we appreciate it. and want to jump into the political arena next year. >> yeah. we have a lot coming up in the next hour of your "new day." it starts right now. ♪ >> the russians were responsible for hacking the dnc. not much happens in russia without vladimir putin. our goal continues to be to send a clear message to russia. we can do stuff to you. >> public shaming does not work with president vladimir putin, i'm thinking of aleppo and syria carnage there much of it at the hands of russian fire power. >> they were supposed to be brought to safety. instead they're running for therapy lives once again. convoy meant to take these east aleppo residents out of the besieged areas under fire. >> we're going to build safe

zones. we're not having them come over. we're going to build safe zones in syria. ♪ >> all right. saturday morning and we're so grateful to be with you. i'm chris city paul. i'm victor blackwell. donald trump is ends his thank you tour where many saw his first sparks at his power of his political movement. you'll remember this picture in mobile, alabama, 30,000 people there at a stadium last august. >> this morning he continues to build out his cabinet as well. the team naming mulvaney. he co-founded the freedom caucus which clashed with republican party leaders. meantime, president obama and his family will spend their fina